Sign Bilingualism Provide Solutions to Challenges Which are being Faced by the Persons with Hearing Impairment Says Minister for Social Justice

New Delhi: September 24,2012

The Conference on “Sign
Bilingualism is a Human Right” organized by the National Association of
the Deaf (NAD) as a part of International Week of the Deaf as announced
by the World Federation of the Deaf was organized here today.
Appreciating the initiative of National Association of the Deaf the
Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment, Shri Mukul Wasnik said,
“conferences like this are very important to bring in innovative ideas
to support the inclusion of persons with hearing impairment in the
society so that they enjoy equal rights in all aspects of life. I am
sure that this conference will certainly provide us an opportunity to
understand the Sign Bilingualism in a right perspective and provide
solutions to challenges which are being faced by the persons with
hearing impairment.

In India, as per 2001 census, the population with hearing impairment was
over 12 Lakhs and as per 58th round of NSSO the hearing impaired
population was over 30 Lakhs. The number is likely to go up as per
Census 2011. A significant number of deaf persons essentially depend on
Sign Language for communication. Even though it is in use for over
hundred years, the efforts to understand and study the Sign Language
have been limited.

Deaf people principally depend on sign language for understanding the
concepts; this is same for the students too. But, the quality of
education given to our deaf children has been poor because of the
limited number of teachers available in sign language. And also our
society has yet to understand the cultural and linguistic needs of the
deaf community. It has been seen that deaf children learn best in sign
language. A sign bilingual child is the one who uses two or more
languages in their daily life, at least one of which is a sign language.
Sign bilingualism is based on the idea that, deaf children can
potentially easily acquire sign language and may have difficulty in
accessing spoken language, they should be given the opportunity to
develop sign language. This gives them a foundation of having a full
command of one language. This foundation helps learn another language
better. While working towards the same goals as spoken language based
approaches, sign bilingualism recognizes the need for a different
classroom practice, using different means to achieve the same ends. A
sign bilingual approach encourages the involvement of deaf as well as
hearing people, and recognition of the culture of Deaf people. Bilingual
education has shown good results with increased literacy level and
supports learning and communication environment of a deaf child.

For the deaf people, barriers to access lie more in lack of accessible
information, whether this information comes through direct interaction
with other people, who do not use sign language or from other sources
like the mass media, documents and so forth. The Sign bilingual
education makes the accessibility for deaf people a reality. Without
accessibility, deaf people will be isolated. Thus, the full enjoyment of
rights for deaf people is possible only with the recognition and
development of sign language. It is the natural language for them and
they learn sign language easily. Armed with sign language, they feel
empowered and are used for communication, learning and eventually
getting a wage employment. By this we will be able to achieve the
fundamental human right of everyone including the deaf people that is
life with dignity. This will eventually enable them to exercise civil,
political, social, economic and cultural rights on an equal basis with
everyone else.

For this is to become a reality we need to produce quality sign language
teachers. It is not enough to have enough teachers; we have to have sign
language interpreters as well. Without the interpreters, it will become
impossible for the sign language dependent persons to access public
services such as education, health, telecommunications,
information/media, transport, etc. Therefore, there is need for trained
sign language interpreters who are currently in limited number. I am
told that there is need for about 9000 interpreters in the country;
while there are only about 30 RCI certified sign language Interpreters
available. It is with this concern in mind that the Ministry has set up
Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre as an autonomous
institution under IGNOU, New Delhi. The centre is the realization of the
long cherished dream of the deaf community in India. It is an exclusive
education project for teaching, learning, training and capacity building
for the vast deaf population. I am confident that Indian Sign Language
Research and Training Centre would change this scenario for the better
in coming years.

As you know, the government has taken various measures to protect the
rights of Persons with Disabilities. In a bid to provide inclusive
education and to end discrimination against children with disabilities,
the Government through its legislation, the Right to Education Act, has
ensured the right to education to every child, irrespective of its
class, sex, religion, disability or otherwise. Sarva Siksha Abhiyan(SSA)
which is a vehicle for this purpose, ensures support to children with
disabilities through the resource teachers, teacher aides and home based
education. In some states Home Based Education (HBE) which prepares the
child for the inclusive school is also provided. Persons with
Disabilities Act, 1995 look into the various types of disabilities and
their empowerment. We are in the process of harmonizing the act with the
UNCRPD. I am glad to share with you that we have created a new
Department of Disability Affairs under our Ministry. With the setting up
of a new Department, exclusively for disability issues, we now hope to
focus in better manner on the issues concerning with disabilities. We
also have seven National Institutes looking after different disabilities
and they are being developed as Centre’s of Excellence. We are also
working on the National Institute for Universal Design. Through ADIP
scheme we provide assistance to purchase aids and appliances. DDRS and
DDRC schemes look in to the overall development of the PwDs. We plan to
introduce Rajiv Gandhi Fellowship Scheme for students with disabilities
pursuing M Phil and PhD, which we hope to start soon. And we support the
NGOs who are working for the empowerment of the PwDs.

Though we have taken several measures, still we have a long way to go in
reaching each and every person with disability and empowering them. To
reach the unreached we all have to put our hands together and work for
their betterment. I urge our country men and the organizations such as
National Association for the Deaf to put all out efforts in realizing an
inclusive society. Over the years, the NAD has made every effort to
ensure that all deaf people in the country have access to the advice,
opportunities and support, which will enable them to exercise their
right to be full and active members of society. The need is
unquestionable as we have to reach out to hundreds of thousands of deaf
people and the government recognizes to accelerate and expand this work
and make even more significant and lasting difference in the lives of
deaf people throughout the country. I appreciate the efforts being made
by NAD in organizing this conference on sign bilingualism.

Present on the occasion were Smt. Stuti Kacker, Secretary , Department
of Disability Affairs, Dr. J. P. Singh, Member Secretary, Rehabilitation
Council of India, Dr Madan Vashishta, Chief Advisor, Indian Sign
Language Research and Training Centre, Shri A S Narayanan, Secretary,
National Association of the Deaf.

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